


Sunshine

by Oblivion_Wanderer



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, based on a random thought, takes place during the 1AU mission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 01:24:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13330518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oblivion_Wanderer/pseuds/Oblivion_Wanderer
Summary: Nelan has never felt more in tune with solar energy than when she walked out onto the array.





	Sunshine

**Author's Note:**

> I just finished Destiny 2 a few hours ago, and let me tell you, the whole 'running through the literal sunlight' thing during the 1AU mission was both scary and cool. During that, I had a thought (bc my Guardian is a gunslinger for her subclass). I thought, 'what if solar energy stuff was more effective in this environment?' It was a silly little thought, but after finishing the game it lead to this fic. Enjoy.
> 
> Title comes from the song Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor), because that area reminded me of the movie Sunshine and the last scene with Capa. Also that song from the OST.

It’s the most beautiful and terrifying thing she’s ever seen.

She’s seen plenty of things that have scared her. The statues that came to life in the Black Garden. The ambush on the moon. The cloaking device failing in the middle of a Taken ceremony. Facing Oryx. The augmented Fallen. The reanimated corpses of former Iron Lords that she was forced to fight. Seeing the City fall. Seeing Ghost fall from the airship. What she sees now though seems to surpass all of that; standing at this window and looking out into the chaos.

And yet she somehow finds it beautiful.

“So… The only way to get where we’re going is… out there...”

The voice of her Ghost snaps Nelan back into focus as he materializes. She’s still standing at the window, and they're both illuminated in the sun’s light. She can see it reflecting off his shell.

“Are you sure?” She asks Ghost.

“Unfortunately.”

She takes a deep breath. That’s truly a frightening thought, but if she has to cross the array to get there… “We have no choice then.”

Ghost looks to the array, and then to her. He must have noticed her trepidation. “Hey; you can do this. _We_ can do this”

Nelan looks up at him. She knows he’s right; she’s been through hell and back, been to planet after planet, somehow found her way back to the Light. There were people counting on her. She had come this far, she couldn’t stop now.

She gives a nod. “Yeah. Stay hidden when I go out there; we’re in this together and I need you to stay safe.”

Ghost makes an electronic noise of approval, but then comes down close to her face. “Of course, but… please be careful.”

He demateralizes and Nelan steels herself, going over to the one door there is to go through; the only way forward.

The door opens and a rain of sunlight awaits her.

Nelan jumps back, startled. How is she supposed to get through that? There had to be someway…

A quick scan of the area tells her that there is a way forward after all. There’s portions of the array that are angled up, casting shadows. She can hide there and make her way across! But she’ll still have to go through the sunlight to get there.

She curls her hands into fists, and she charges forward into the light.

The fire hits her, but she tried not to think about it, pushing her body to move to where the shadows were. It still burned, but in a strange way she couldn’t describe. Burning was… too simple of a word

She ducks behind the first semblance of shelter, into the shadows.

“The shadows!” She hears Ghost speak. “Stick to the shadows!”

“Got it!”

Although even as she says that, there’s something strange about all this, something she can _feel_. It’s like the solar energy she can feel whenever she had been able to summon her Golden Gun in the past, but stronger here somehow.

It’s like the solar energy is buzzing in her veins; resonating from her Light.

“Heads up; I’m still picking up movement.” Ghost informed her. “There’s a couple lingering Cabal.”

“Great.” She grumbles, setting aside the thought for now and readying her weapon. She holds it close and forces herself to leave the shadows to the next safe spot.

Why in the world there’s Cabal out here (sticking to the shadows, like her), she’ll never know. She can’t let that stop her from getting to her destination. She’ll brave the harsh light and fight her way through to stop this machine.

So she runs in the sun, fights from the shadows, and all the while she can feel that familiar solar energy.

Nelan’s nearing the other side of the array- she can see a doorway, but there’s a few Cabal, about four, blocking her way. They’re in the shadows like her, already taking aim, and there’s limited shadowed areas she can use for cover. The fact of the matter is she needs to get through as fast as possible so the sun doesn’t cook her. She doesn’t think Ghost would be able to bring her back from that.

But she can do this. By the solar energy and by the Light- Nelan can do this.

Nelan closes her eyes, and takes a breath. Then she opens her eyes, already feeling the energy channeling down into her hand as she takes up the familiar gun.

She leaves her hiding spot and takes aim.

She feels like she’s one with the sun.

‘ _Fire!’_ The thought screams in her mind.

Nelan moves with quick succession, her shots landing most of her targets until there’s one left.

“Guardian!”

Her trance is broken by Ghost as the energy dies down and she feels the burning rain again. She quickly retreats back to the shadow of her hiding spot, out of the sun. At least no one’s shot at her yet as she recovers.

“Nelan, are you alright?” Ghost asks, quickly healing her while they're in cover.

“I-I’m fine.” She replies, taking up her primary again. “We need to keep moving.”

He finishes the healing process and asks, “Are you ready to?”

To answer his question, she takes a breath, leans out enough to see her target and lands a shot to get rid of them. She ducks back into the shade with a smile.

“As I’ll ever be.”

Nelan continues to travel by shadow across the array and through the fire until she gets to the door, rushing inside once she gets it open. She leans against a wall once the door is closed, catching her breath. After a moment Ghost materializes.

“I’m not detecting anyone near us; we’re safe for the moment.” Ghost informed her. “That was… well, it was something.”

“It was. I’d rather not do that again ether.” She breathed.

“I second that.”

She chuckled, but then went quiet. “Ghost, out there on the array, I felt, kind of strange.”

“You mean other than literal fire raining onto you? What kind of strange?”

“Normally I only really notice the solar energy when I use the Golden Gun.” Nelan explained. “But here, I… It’s different. It’s like I’m more aware of it; can sense it. It’s there alongside the Light. It’s like here, I can focus that specific energy from the Light more clearly. Its like… the solar energy here is _singing_.”

“Hm… You were always more efficient as a gunslinger, you work best with it, and we are close to the sun, a high source of solar energy. I saw you when you drew the Gun; it seemed to shine brighter than usual. You glowed like the sun. Maybe the proximity amplified it.”

Nelan appreciated Ghost’s thoughts. “Maybe.” She looked out another nearby window, taking the scenery in for this brief moment of rest. “Look at it, Ghost. It’s like... chaos and beauty. It was like we were running in sunshine. It was an experience I cannot easily describe.” Then she looked back to him. “But we still have to stop it.”

“Yes. They’re waiting down there, looking to us to send out the signal.”

“Then let’s slight the spark.”

 

* * *

 

She’ll remember later, as she feels like’s she traveling this tube to the core at light-speed, the sensation she got on the array.

She looks to the distance, where they’re heading, and she doesn’t really feel like she’s moving. Rather, she feels like she’s surrounded by solar light.

Speechless at both that feeling and the sight before her, she manages to lift her hand up, as if she could touch it.

And then in the next moment the route takes a detour and the feeling is gone again.

 

* * *

 

Nelan jumps to the top of the platform and chances a look back at the core as it begins to collapse.

It’s so bright, but she feels like she enveloped by the solar energy now.

It’s like an orchestra.

“Nelan, we have to go!” Ghost yells over the sound of everything around her falling apart.

And she turns and runs as fast as she can, the Light in her pushing her forward to the ship. Ghost is telling Zavala to begin the attack, but Nelan is only concerned about moving forward. She has to- they have to get out of here!

And it's like she's running straight at the sun; solar energy burning strong in her like a fire, but in a good way. It's as if that's helping her move forward, even when she can barely see as she runs. It's so bright, even with her helmet on.

Ghost brings their ship in and they manage to get inside in time to leave the collapsing machine.

The song stops, fades, as they speed away and back to Earth.

Nelan knows she’ll never experience something like that again, but she knows she won’t forget it ether. She can try and put it into words later though.

First there is a war to win.


End file.
